Two fighter pilots battle it out for honour of joining manned
mission to Tiangong-1 space labOne of two female fighter pilots
will become the first Chinese woman in space later this month,
after the two were shortlisted for a place in the three-person team
that will blast off in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, the state news
agency Xinhua said.Chinese media described Major Liu Yang, from
Henan, as a "hero pilot" who achieved a successful emergency
landing after a dramatic birdstrike incident spattered the
windshield of her plane with blood.Meanwhile, her rival, Captain
Wang Yaping, from Shandong, is said to have flown rescue missions
during the Sichuan earthquake and piloted a cloud-seeding plane to
help clear the skies of rain for the Beijing Olympics in 2008."They
are selected as members of the first batch of female astronauts in
China because of their excellent flight skills and psychological
quality," said Xinhua.This month's mission...